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MARKETING WESTERN BOXED APPLES Pid 
Bidding is open to the public in some markets, but in others it is 
restricted to members of buyers’ associations. Auctions may be 
restricted both as to who offers apples for sale and who shall bid for 
them. 
Charges from ship to final delivery at auction vary from the equiv- 
alent of 18 to 30 cents per box, besides commission of 3 to 7 per cent. 
Facilities vary considerably. Shipments may be unloaded direct to 
the auction place on the wharf and then transferred to the car on the 
other side to be carried to final destination as directed by buyer. At 
another port arrangements may be far less convenient and the port 
ean by old regulations and customs, and there may be a whole 
series of handling and hauling charges between the ship and the final 
buyer. It can not be said that gross or even net returns are necessarily 
higher at the better equipped markets. Northern ports have the 
reputation of higher gross prices because supplying a region that is 
without much native fruit and with less competition from low-grade 
apples shipped from continental Europe, although often the supposed 
advantage is more than offset by extremely heavy arrivals from 
American ports. 
At some auctions, sales are guaranteed and paid for by auction 
firms before collection is made from buyers; at others, provision is 
made for rejections or claims. The six main port auction points are 
Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, London, Hull, and Southampton; 
each is a center of supply for its market territory within 50 to 100 
miles. London is a leading port of arrival for American apples, but 
Liverpool is a very important distributing center for northern cities. 
Glasgow is the great receiving port of Scotland and has a very success- | 
ful auction system. Manchester with its ship canal, and Southamp- 
ton with its improved docking facilities, are of growing importance. 
Cardiff and Bristol serve the markets of southern Wales and western 
England. Hull and North Cardiff distribute to places on the north- 
eastern coast, and Hull is the leading point of reshipment to Denmark, 
Norway, Sweden, and Holland, receiving 225,000 packages of Ameri- 
can and Canadian apples in 1923. 
The volume, frequency, and publicity of auction sales make them a 
general barometer of market prices. Even the private-sales dealers 
sometimes turn over to auctions the low-grade surplus fruit. On the 
other hand, some private-sales dealers have established very desirable 
trade in the best grades of apples. Their facilities are preferred by 
many shippers who wish to build up a reliable permanent demand for 
a superior brand of fruit. For the general run of apple sales, auctions 
are showing gain in volume of business. Some cooperative associa- 
tions ship to them direct. Auctions are preferred by some shippers, 
because of the certainty of prompt sale and payment and the pub- 
licity of the price record. 
OTHER MARKETS 
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and Germany show prefer- 
ence for boxed apples of medium size and the standard red varieties. 
Orders are placed by Danish importers through their American 
agents, who in turn place the orders with shippers. Collection 1s 
made by sight draft, attached to bill of lading. Many boxed apples 
are sold at the semiweekly auctions in Copenhagen, Gothenburg, 
